Describes the planning and initial implementation of the restructuring of Oswego Middle School, New York, toward full inclusion for students with mild, moderate, and severe disabilities. Includes lists of Inclusive Education Committee activities, and a three-year building-based planning process for implementing inclusion. (JPB)

High achieving and underachieving gifted New York City adolescent students were compared in their use of metacognitive reading strategies. A stratified sample was used to identify extreme groups of achievers, 5 consistent high achievers and 5 consistent underachievers. Data were collected from three sources: (a) the Metacognitive Awareness of…

A 5-year federally funded substance abuse prevention program targeted 426 high risk middle-school youth from 4 school districts in Nassau County, New York. Combining a child-centered model with a systemic approach, the program's goal was to prevent or delay the onset of alcohol and other drug use. High-risk youth were identified by school…

In the last five years, a growing number of large, urban school districts have moved to close what are termed "troubled" 6-8 middle schools and have opened K-8 schools in their place: Boston, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Newark, New Orleans, New York City, Oklahoma City, and Philadelphia have been among the first to do…

Although a vibrant literature on the social justice advantages of writing service-learning programs has existed for many years, the focus has tended to be on specific projects and courses, often accompanied by an understandable suspicion that entrenched institutions like universities have interests inimical to radical social change. As a result,…

Notes that, although the open space design has not been problem free, satisfactory solutions have been found and the fears about the non feasibility of utilizing an open space program with minority youngsters has proven to be as ill-founded as the myth that black students cannot compete with whites successfully. (Author/AM)

As adult office workers' use of computers has increased, the incidence of computer-related musculoskeletal complaints and injuries has also increased. Although the use of computers in the classroom is increasing, little attention has been paid by educators, furniture manufacturers, or researchers to the ergonomic design issues of educational…

The Center on English Learning and Achievement (CELA) has been studying the characteristics of successful English programs in middle and high schools. This report discusses the findings of the first two years of their 5-year Excellence in English study and focuses on the educational practices that support student literacy as well as the…

This cross-site, collaborative study focused on the instructional practices of three middle school art teachers from Arizona, Indiana, and New York. The researchers found similarities as well as differences among the teachers' strategies. At all three sites, emphasis was on curriculum related to their students' lives, developing technical skills,…

This article outlines the development of a level system for a self-contained middle school program serving students with emotional and behavioral disorders. This level system is a real alternative to traditional control and coercion models. The Turning Point Middle School's level system incorporates aspects of the Circle of Courage, Choice Theory,…

The National School-to-Work Office in collaboration with the National Association for Gifted Children, the Council for Exceptional Children, the Association for the Gifted, and the Council of State Directors of Programs for the Gifted have identified 11 gifted education/school-to-work (GT/STW) models that are either best practices or unique…

Using ingenuity and an IBM grant, an assistant professor of special education paired 40 teacher education students in her methods courses with middle-school writing partners from the teachers' classes for moderately handicapped students. Using electronic mail, the pairs communicated often on various topics. Friendships developed, along with…

Across the globe, progressive universities are embracing any number of MUVEs (multi-user virtual environments), 3D environments, and "immersive" virtual reality tools. And within the next few months, several universities are expected to test so-called "telepresence" videoconferencing systems from Cisco Systems and other leading…

This monograph is designed to serve as a vision for guiding the future of vocational education at the middle level. Chapter 1, "Understanding Early Adolescents" (Frances Smith), provides an overview of early adolescent development as a basis for developing middle-level vocational education programs. Chapter 2, "Essential Elements of…